Chapter 424: Sold Out

Saileiannie and Ba'en had different focuses in terms of craftsmanship.

Regarding this point, one could see it from the names of their two shops.

【Pearl Spinning】 and 【Rock Hammer】.

The former belonged to a tailor shop, the main consumer groups were wealthy merchants, nobles, and senior adventurers in the White Cliff District of Shoal Bay, and customization service was its main business;

The latter was an iron smithy, and the equipment in the shop ranged from entry-level leather armor of ten gold to full-body heavy plate armor of thousands of gold; anyone in Hegu Town who had requirements for equipment and was willing to spend money could find a suitable object in the shop, and it also undertook a small amount of customization services for high-quality equipment.

The Half-Elf leaned toward textile sewing, while the Half-Dwarf leaned toward iron smelting and forging.

Of course, even if there were deviations in professional development, after all, both were excellent craftsmen proficient in the manufacture of enchanted equipment, and there was overlap in some fields.

Extremely rich manufacturing experience and poisonous eyes allowed them to clearly and accurately distinguish the pros and cons of a piece of equipment.

It was precisely because of this that, even though 【Infernal Pulse】 had been completely damaged and had no value for restoration.

Through its remains, Saileiannie still captured the excellent forging craftsmanship left by another outstanding craftsman from the inland region, the pride of "Rock Hammer" Ba'en, with incomparable precision.

Making his gaze pause, he couldn't help but ask about its origin.

And when the Half-Elf learned from Xia Nan that this piece of equipment came from "Rock Hammer," a look of realization also appeared on his face.

The two were separated by a long distance, so naturally, they had never met.

But to some extent, they had already known each other for a long time, had heard of each other, and Ba'en would definitely not be unfamiliar with 【Pearl Spinning】 over there.

After all, adventurers were mobile.

Especially for those veteran figures whose team strength was strong enough, long-distance travel for missions was a perfectly normal thing.

Only those newcomers who hadn't even obtained professional levels would stay in the town all the time, circling around those Goblin nests.

Missions with slightly higher difficulty all required going deep into the Mist Forest or traveling to other regions.

And Hegu Town and Shoal Bay, both as adventure hubs possessing Association branches, often had high-level professionals traveling between them.

In this situation, if they occasionally encountered equipment damage that needed repair or re-purchase, both sides could often take over equipment from the other side.

In this way, after a long time, the characteristics of their respective craftsmanship gradually became clear.

It was just that...

Saileiannie's deep green eyes stared at 【Infernal Pulse】 on the counter, his expression appearing exceptionally complex.

The forging craftsmanship used on this damaged armor was extremely complex, and multiple hammer-forging techniques were even used in superposition in some places.

This was not common.

For this level of enchanted equipment, it was like a cake that had almost been made; in the situation where the cream and cake embryo inside were already determined, just decorating a little fruit on the outermost layer was enough to put it on the shelf.

The upper limit of the material quality was there, and the taste inside after cutting was always like that.

But the armor before his eyes, even though it would have been enough to just put some fruit on it, the maker seemed to be showing off his skills by sprinkling a layer of nuts, mixing strawberries, watermelons, and mangoes, and piling them all on top of the cream.

He did not spare his energy and time at all.

Saileiannie even saw some high-level forging techniques that only appeared on high-level enchanted equipment in some corner areas of the armor.

Limited by the materials, even if he paid so much effort, in the end, it might only improve the overall defensive strength by one percent, which was a thankless behavior.

To put it bluntly, some blacksmiths forging equipment for their children might not be so attentive.

"What is your relationship... with Ba'en?"

With suspicion on his pale blue face, the Half-Elf's eyes couldn't stop looking up and down at the black-haired youth in front of him, trying to find a trace of dwarf bloodline from his appearance.

"A regular customer, and can also be considered a friend with a good relationship; what's wrong?"

Sensing the strangeness of the other party's inquiry, Xia Nan answered.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend." Realizing that his inquiry might be a bit abrupt, the Half-Elf showed an apologetic look, "It's just that many forging techniques on this piece of equipment of yours... uh, are very outstanding."

Hearing the other party say this, Xia Nan also roughly understood the other party's meaning in his heart.

It was normal.

After all, Ba'en had mentioned to himself before that the high scrap rate of his armor had made his self-confidence somewhat hit.

This piece of 【Infernal Pulse】 belonged to the other party's proof of work; he basically didn't earn any money, and even lost a little material cost, just for his pride as a craftsman.

Facts proved that the equipment quality was indeed good, and it had successively supported two strong enemies, the Crystal Priest and the Shark Beast; among the armors Xia Nan had worn, it was already a "t0" level performance.

At least he was very satisfied.

And for Ba'en...

Anyway, he would have to wait until after the "Moon Tide Feast" ended three months later at the earliest to start returning to Hegu Town, and it would take about fifty days on the road.

As long as he didn't say it, no matter how many sets of armor he changed in the middle, for that "Half-Dwarf" whose figure was even more robust than a Bugbear, the 【Infernal Pulse】 he carefully forged had held on for such a long time.

It should be helpful for the maintenance of his self-esteem.

"Alright, let's not talk about so many digressions."

Seeing the topic drifting further and further, Saileiannie cleared his throat and said.

"Under normal circumstances, I actually don't undertake this kind of scrap equipment recycling business here."

"But the forging craftsmanship on this piece of armor in your hand is indeed rare, and I want to keep it to study and learn carefully, saying that it might be helpful for the improvement of my forging craftsmanship."

"Hmm... how about 175 gold?"

The Half-Elf's offer was actually very good.

After all, the 【Infernal Pulse】 before his eyes had been completely scrapped and couldn't even be counted as second-hand equipment.

Xia Nan originally just wanted to borrow the main material of the armor's hell iron to see if he could earn some food and accommodation expenses.

175 gold, for an ordinary piece of white equipment with a few entries, was just this price; how could he not be satisfied?

As for whether such a sale would have any adverse effects on Ba'en in Hegu Town, there was actually no need to worry.

If one could really learn the forging techniques on the equipment just by relying on the naked eye and the finished product, there would be no need for so many blacksmith apprentices in this world, and those forging masters were afraid they wouldn't dare to pour their craftsmanship into the equipment.

Many times, especially for those relatively profound forging techniques, they all required the gathering of heat and special forging techniques; without decades of hard work, even if one knew the mystery, one couldn't replicate it at all.

Saileiannie just wanted to draw inferences from one instance, and there was no possibility of stealing the teacher's skills.

The offer met his psychological expectations, so Xia Nan didn't haggle with the other party much and decisively closed the deal.

【Infernal Pulse】 processing completed. ===== CHAPTER 425 =====